New Zealand Motoring Reviews and Experiences

Ford Fiest ST – Arriba arriba

Speedy Gonzales was a Mexican cartoon mouse from my childhood, ‘the fastest mouse in all Mexico’ that ran rings around Sylvester the cat (later Daffy Duck) and helped his fellow mice gain entry to a coveted cheese factory. Speedy’s acceleration, cornering and agility thwarted all attempts to snare him always leaving his nemesis humiliated or in pain.

I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this…

Ford’s new Fiesta ST is a 134kW’s of speed. Its 1.6 litre, 16v turbo, EcoBoost engine propels the stylish compact sports car from 0-100 in well under 7 seconds, while its Torque Vectoring Control gives the ST optimum grip around corners. Despite producing 240Nm of Torque it’s laid down in a more measured way, the result is (even with a heavy foot) virtually no torque steer (unlike its Focus counterpart). As expected, its 6 speed manual box is crisp and succinct and completes the car’s full on ‘driver’ experience.

The 2 door hatch sits low on 17” rims and the LED daytime running headlights have an ‘Egyptian eye’ flair as they mould into the sleek lines of the side panels. Its nose features large air scoop nostrils and the ‘open mouth’ grille sports the ST badge.

The ST’s interior is a little more ‘functional’ than I would have liked, with a generous amount of plastic on the dash and trim and it’s a little too economical with the infotainment but the Recaro seats are great – colour coded and ‘ST’ stamped.

The Fiesta ST really is a fast and exceptionally great handling car. Its lowered chassis makes it a tarmacs best friend and this combined with its powerful GTDi engine gives it the dexterity of, well, Speedy Gonzales – Ole.